


No Surprise Here

by Rintin10



Series: Duck Family Oneshots [1]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Angst, Donald Duck Deserves Better, Donald Duck Needs a Hug, Donald Duck Tries His Best, Gen, No beta: we die like men, Post Moonvasion, Post-Season/Series 02 Finale, and gets no recognition for it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 10:16:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20619383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rintin10/pseuds/Rintin10
Summary: Donald wasn’t surprised that his family had forgotten about him.





	No Surprise Here

**Author's Note:**

> Vent fic because Moonvasion left me empty inside.

Donald wasn’t surprised that his family had forgotten about him. Sure, when Della and the kids had landed on the island, he had _hoped_ their rescue had meant they had noticed. Noticed that he hadn’t managed to make it to the cruise ship. Noticed that he had been taken captive and had been held for ransom. Noticed his message from the moon that he fought with his life to send. Noticed that he beat the impractical odds to escape, just so he could return to them. Noticed that he had spent weeks trying against all odds to survive on a deserted island, alone and scared he would never see them again. Noticed that he was waiting for some sort of rescue.

So yeah, when he saw them on the beach for the first time after months, he had _hoped_ this meant they had noticed, but when the truth was ultimately revealed later by Scrooge, he wasn’t surprised it had just been an accident.

He wasn’t an idiot. He knew that the boys were thrilled to be living somewhere other than the houseboat. He knew they were embarrassed by how little they had, how little _he_ could provide for them, even if they never said it out loud. He knew that moving into the mansion and meeting Scrooge had been one of the best things to happen to them. He knew that, while Scrooge had welcomed the boys in with welcome arms, his relationship with Donald was strained at best. He knew that the boys still didn’t really believe that he was a capable adventurer. He knew that Scrooge conveniently forgot to include him on adventures with the others, and that didn’t help that perception. He knew that they never doubted that Della was. He knew that Della was everything they had expected and hoped she’d be. He knew that in the time he was gone, Della had managed to reinstate herself in the boys lives and they accepted her as their parent.

He knew this was always going to happen. He knew that Della was alive and out there somewhere, no matter how delusional they called him. He knew she would come back to them, to _her boys_, no matter what. He knew the boy’s were so much like their mother, that it was only natural that they would love her just as much as he knew they would. He knew that no matter how much he was there for them, he wasn’t their mother and he would never be. He knew that he was _just_ Uncle Donald, the embarrassment, the _failure_. He knew that now that she was back, they would finally have the one thing he could never give them; _her_. He knew that she could give them all so much more than he ever could have dreamed. She had given them the stars after all.

So yeah, he wasn’t surprised at all.

What did surprise him, though, was _how much it hurt anyway_.

**Author's Note:**

> Donald mentioned he was on the island for months, guys. Not weeks, MONTHS. You're telling me, not once did anyone decide to try and check on him except Huey in one scene in 2x17?? The cruise never tried to contact them??? No tearful reunion with the boys??? No acknowledgment that he could have died trying to come back to them??? His entire journey relegated into comic relief??? Blasphemy.


End file.
